Alan McCrackenAlan McCracken was born in 1938. After a five-year apprenticeship as a centre-lathe turner at Leyland Motors and four years working as a skilled armament fitter for guided missiles in the RAF, he worked as a door-to-door salesman of brushes, then enyclopedias, and as a postman, before becoming a full-time student. He finished his working life as a teacher in 1997. Read More Read Less